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Paleo Perspectives

NCDC’s Paleoclimatology Program created a series of Paleo Perspectives to show how paleoclimatology data provide a long baseline of past change needed to understand the natural variability of the Earth’s climate over a variety of timescales, including: interannual, decadal, centennial, and millennial. The perspectives also provide a variety of links to scientific research results and datasets.

Abrupt Climate Change: A Paleo Perspective

The paleoclimatology record shows rapid and dramatic changes in climate have occurred in the past at global and regional scales. The Abrupt Climate Change Paleo Perspective discusses the current state of knowledge surrounding the causes and effects of these changes.

North American Drought: A Paleo Perspective

A comprehensive website on drought in the historical and paleoclimatology records. The perspective is designed to help educate, inform, and highlight the history and importance of drought, and to show how paleoclimatology research relates to drought and other important issues of climate variability and change.

A Paleo Perspective on Global Warming

The Paleoclimatology Program's main goal in creating this comprehensive website was to help educate, inform, and highlight the importance of paleoclimatology research. The perspective shows how paleoclimatology research relates to global warming and other important issues regarding climate variability and change.

Colorado River Stream Flow: A Paleo Perspective

This website assesses the gauged record of Colorado River streamflow in the context of multi-century flow reconstructions from tree rings. It describes the Colorado River system and its management, the century-long gauged record of flow, and the use of tree rings to extend, or reconstruct, the gauged record 400 years or more into the past, providing a more complete picture of past flow variability.